Royals Recap: Fernandez and Chen Dominate, But Marlins Score Lone Run

Aug 8, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez (16) delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning at PNC Park. The Pittsburgh Pirates won 5-4 in ten innings. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Bruce Chen pitched seven scoreless inning, but in wasn’t enough to overcome Jose Fernandez and the Marlins last night as the Miami won 1-0 in 10 innings.

It is too hard to be mad at this loss as Fernandez was absolutely insane and the Miami bullpen was on top of their game. However, the loss does mean Kansas City falls back behind the Cleveland Indians and into third place in the American League Central.

On the Mound

And he was. Fernandez allowed just three hits in seven innings while striking out six and walking one. Miami is watching his innings limit so he was pulled after only 94 pitches, but he looked as if he could have easily gone two or three more innings. The kid was simply amazing.

Give credit to Bruce Chen, though, as the Royals need seven shutout innings if they wanted any chance at being in this game. Chen went seven innings, gave up three hits and three walks while striking out six. He has an ERA of o.93 as a starter so far this season, and has the lowest ERA (1.62) of any left-handed pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched this year. The guy has been tremendous for the Royals the last four weeks.

At the Plate

Nothing happened here.

This and That

– More Bruce Chen. Chen has a 0.93 ERA, 0.672 WHIP, and an opponents slash line of .144/.193/.220 in 38.2 innings as a starting pitcher this season.

– Fernandez’s average changeup was traveling at 89.91 mph last night with heavy sink to it. This helps explain why the Royals were 0-12 with five strikeouts against non-fastballs last night. Not that 3-for-12 with a strikeout against his fastball was much better…

– Last night was the seventh time the Royals have been shutout this season. It is the third time they have been shutout on a Tuesday. The Tuesday thing means nothing, I just thought it was interesting that nearly half of the Royals shutouts have come on a Tuesday.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Bruce Chen is by far and away the winner of the Player of the Game award. In 34 starts last season, Chen had just four outings where he did not allow a run. In six starts this year he already has three scoreless starts.

• James Shields – 9
• Alex Gordon – 14
  
• Wade Davis – 5
• Lorenzo Cain – 8
• Luis Mendoza – 3
• Billy Butler – 9
• Ervin Santana – 8
• Miguel Tejada – 5
  
• Jeremy Guthrie -5
• Eric Hosmer – 11
• Chris Getz – 2
• Mike Moustakas – 6
  
• Aaron Crow
• Jarrod Dyson – 3
  
• David Lough – 8
• Alcides Escobar – 5
• J.C. Gutierrez
• Jeff Francoeur
• Bruce Chen – 3
• Salvador Perez – 4
• Will Smith – 1
  
• George Kottaras
• Louis Coleman – 2
  
• Bruce Chen – 4
  
• Justin Maxwell – 2
• Greg Holland

The Marlins

Fernandez had a 76 game score last night, which is really good. But he’s Fernandez, so that only qualifies last night as his sixth best start of the season. In an August 2 start against the Cleveland Indians he struck out 14 batters while allowing just three hits and one walk in eight shutout innings. Fernandez has more game scores of 70 or above (7) than he does game scores of 49 or below (5 – and two of those were 49 game scores). A “quality start” by game score is 50.

This. Kid. Is. Awesome.

Up Next

Ervin Santana will try to win the Royals eighth-straight series this afternoon against Miami’s Justin Turner. Turner is 3-4 with a 2.95 ERA on the season but is 0-3 with a 4.13 ERA and 1.447 WHIP in his five starts since the All-Star break.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.

AL Central Notes

Detroit Tigers (69-49): Alejandro De Aza hit a walk-off single to score Avisall Garcia in the 11th inning to beat the Tigers 4-3. Phil Coke gave up the hit but Jeremy Bonderman – yes, he’s still in baseball – was tagged with both the run and the loss. Max Scherzer went six inning and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits, three walks, and six strikeouts.

Cleveland Indians (64-56): The Indians are back in second place after beating the Twins, 5-2. Ryan Raburn hit a two-run homer in the sixth in support of Zack McAllister, who stuck out seven in six innings while allowing only two runs (one earned).

Minnesota Twins (53-64): In the loss to the Indians, Josh Willingham hit a solo home run. Sam Deduno allowed five runs (four earned) in six innings.

Chicago White Sox (46-72): Chicago continued to their road to avoid 100 losses with a walk-off win over the Tigers. De Aza, as mentioned earlier, had the game-winning hit. Garcia was 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored, and two RBI in the game.